Hengaw: Families of Four Kurdish Political Prisoners Remain Uninformed About Their Status

The human rights organization Hengaw announced on Saturday, July 22, that the families of Mohsen Mazloom, Mohammad (Hajir) Faramarzi, Vafa Azarbar, and Pejman Fatehi, four Kurdish political prisoners detained last year, are still unaware of their status. According to the report, 27-year-old Mohsen Mazloom from Mahabad, 28-year-old Mohammad Faramarzi from Dehgolan, 26-year-old Vafa Azarbar from Bukan, and 28-year-old Pejman Fatehi from Kamyaran are 'still in the custody of security agencies without access to the most basic rights of political defendants.' Zhila Mostajer, a board member of the Hengaw human rights organization, stated in an interview with Voice of America that 'after a full year since the arrest of these four members of Komala, none of them have had even a phone call with their families, and their families are in complete ignorance about the status of their children.' Hengaw reported that government media claimed last August that these four political prisoners, who are members of the Komala party, were 'armed and attempting to explode in industrial facilities in Isfahan' when they were arrested. They were detained on July 23, 2022, in the village of 'Yingjeh' in the 'Somay Baradost' region of Urmia. The Komala party of Iranian Kurdistan issued an official statement calling the accusation baseless and stated that 'such a scenario has been raised to further suppress the people and protesters.' Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic's television has aired 'forced confessions' of Mohsen Mazloom, Mohammad (Hajir) Faramarzi, Vafa Azarbar, and Pejman Fatehi at least twice. The security and propaganda apparatus of the Islamic Republic has repeatedly used 'forced televised confessions' of detainees since the establishment of this regime in Iran after the 1979 revolution. The Hengaw human rights organization also noted that 'such actions have a history in the practices of the Islamic Republic's security agencies' and wrote that these actions 'are mainly aimed at implementing the scenario of security agents for case fabrication.' Zhila Mostajer believes that what makes the situation of these four individuals 'more concerning is the accusation attributed to them by the security agencies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the forced televised confessions of these four individuals against themselves that security agencies occasionally publish.' According to the report, the families of these four prisoners have also been pressured by government agencies, with the most recent incident involving agents from the Kamyaran Intelligence Department interrogating and psychologically torturing Afsaneh Yousefi, the mother of Pejman Fatehi, for several hours and threatening her with the summons and detention of other family members. This human rights organization expressed concern about the fate of these four political prisoners and called for accountability from the Islamic Republic government in this regard and the guarantee of the defendants' rights, including access to the right to have a chosen lawyer. According to Ms. Mostajer, 'the Islamic Republic does not even implement its own procedural laws regarding most political detainees, especially these four, and unfortunately, there has been no news about the place of detention and the health status of these individuals.' She emphasized that 'human rights organizations and the families of these individuals are worried about their lives' and added: 'Their detention is completely illegal and falls under the framework of enforced disappearance.' Zhila Mostajer stated: 'Concerns intensified when security agencies do not respond to the families' requests to visit them at all and threaten to prevent information about the ambiguous status of their children.' According to her, 'the approach that the Islamic Republic takes towards political individuals has always been a violent one, and individuals are exposed to execution and deprivation of life through various case fabrications by the Intelligence and Revolutionary Guards.'